Game Wrap 5/27/2013: A's 4 Giants 1

Dan Straily and 2 A's relievers pounded the strike zone all afternoon against the Giants.  Meanwhile, Madison Bumgarner didn't have a strike zone to pound as the ump completely took away his outside corner and was none too generous with the inside corner.  Just to rub salt in the wound, the ump called Brandon Belt out on a pitch that was clearly outside.  As Kuip sardonically commented, "that was the first time he's called that a strike all afternoon!"  Key Lines:

Andres Torres- 2 for 3.  BA= .287.   Torres was the only Giants hitter to have a good day at the plate.  He is hitting .400 over his last 10 games and is 10 for his last 18 AB's.

Madison Bumgarner- 6.2 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 5 BB, 6 K's, HBP.  ERA= 3.13.  Bumgarner deserved a better fate.  In addition to the strike zone issues, George Kontos hung a slider to Yeonis Cespedes that resulted in a double to the R-CF wall that drove in 2 inherited runners in the 7'th.  Kontos then struck out Josh Donaldson with a filthy slider, but the damage was already done.  Earlier, after Bumgarner walked Cespedes on 4 pitches then went 2-0 on Donaldson, Quiroz came out to talk to him.  Watching on TV, I said to myself, "I bet he's telling him to just throw a strike.  Donaldson knows that and he's going to hit it out."  That's exactly what happened!

Camouflage Caps and Lettering- OK, I'll give this one a thumbs down.  The camouflage unis that the Padres sometimes wear annoy me to no end and this is even worse.  I mean they are the Padres, not the dougboys or the grunts or whatever other name you want to give the Marines and I'm not at all sure the military is honored by ballplayers donning those unis.  I'm also not sure how we are honoring either those we have lost in wars or the military by wearing terrible looking baseball uniforms.  Seems to me a simple ceremony and moment of silence before the game with a flag on the shoulder would get the job done and be more appropriate.

While we're at it, am I the only one who is sick to death of listening to God Bless America every last 7'th inning?  I mean, it's not the only patriotic song that's out there.  Who decided THAT was the only one that could commemorate 9/11 or express patriotism?  Listen, I'm as patriotic as anybody.  I faithfully put my hand over my heart and sing along to the National Anthem when it is performed before the games.  But, come on!  Woody Guthrie, for one, hated God Bless America so much he wrote This Land Is Your Land and put it to the music of an old Carter Family song just to put an alternative out there.  My proposal is to at least change it up a bit and rotate God Bless America with America The Beautiful and This Land Is Your Land. Heck, I'd even go for a brass band playing Stars and Stripes Forever once in awhile!

With the Loss, the Giants fall a game behind the D'Backs into 2'nd place in the NL West after the D'Backs topped the Rangers 5-3. Those two teams play a second game of a Day-Night DH later.  The Rockies lost to the lowly Astros 3-2 in extra innings to fall 2 games behind the leaders in 3'rd place.  The Pathetic Padres got whitewashed by the Seattle Mariners 9-0 to fall 6.5 games off the pace and the Dodgers play the Angels tonight starting out 7.5 games behind.

Let's just hope Kickham has a better K zone tomorrow night, or it could get real ugly real fast.  He'll be facing Jarrod Parker who has had his own struggles this year.